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Author Archives: Pacific Coast Peregrine Watch
Strength and stamina… part 1
http://youtu.be/HGNKeV8kubM
Video by Bob Isenberg
Opening the box to release the rehabilitated juvenile peregrine
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Posted in falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock
Tagged accident or injury, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock, peregrines, survival, whales
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Strength and stamina… part 2
http://youtu.be/PCelkeWIbNo
Video by Bob Isenberg
This is a story that we here in Morro Bay have been waiting for. The young injured falcon. Heather has done all the leg work, phone calls, logistics, news, etc. I think it is hers to tell. Happy trails, Bob
I guess the ball is in my court, so here goes… When I was at the Coastal Discovery Fair for Friends of the Elephant Seals last month, Marcelle, a friend, mentioned that she had heard of and injured falcon, so I went on a search to find out what had happened. Links to the Pacific Wildlife Care Center connected me to Jeri Roberts who was rehabilitating the peregrine. Its wing had been broken most likely in a crash with prey due to a miscalculated kill or jousting or a collision with a power lines or guy wire. Lots of possibilities, but the broken ulna needed to be wrapped to the more stable and stronger radius bone. She was mending.
After weeks of careful and conscientious attention, this young falcon who had been injured June 26 was now ready to be released. Jeri had increased the size of her cage gradually from a small confining crate to a 30 foot flight cage. We wanted to release her on the sand-spit where the she had been found. We needed a boat, a way to transport her. We spoke with Kevin at SubSeas Whale Watching Tours who suggested that we might call on the Harbor Patrol. Putting her in the same location where she had been found would be the best.
Leaving home in Prefumo Canyon, Jeri had said that the falcon had started quacking when she smelled the sea air near Los Osos and more loudly quacked as the car in which she rode neared the Morro BayCoast Guard Station. Off we went on the Harbor Patrol boat skippered by Jeremiah to the sand-spit. Stepping onto the sand-spit, we climbed the sliding sand up to the perfect place to release her, a wide open area. Jeri opened the blue box lid slowly and off our youngster went, so gracefully on wing, flapping and gliding and covering distance so easily. She was a very happy bird! She made a few loops to orient herself and started to gain height and go further. The falconer’s term is “she was ringing up.” We were all amazed at her strength and stamina. Jeri was so pleased to see the conditioning of our very athletic bird paid off. Often a bird would fly and then quickly rest. This one had the endurance needed to go far and wide. Off and over Morro Bay and the Estuary towards the Morro Bay Museum of Natural History. She then perched in a very tall eucalyptus. She had recovered.
After a small jaunt to the mouth of the inlet to see thousands of Sooty Shearwaters and a few humpback whales spouting, we all headed back to the dock having seen the very satisfying recovery of a peregrine falcon. ~Heather
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Posted in falcon, juvenile
Tagged accident or injury, falcon, juvenile, peregrines, survival, whales
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The matriarch of Morro Rock…
This is the fifth in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.”
This bird that I am speaking of is probably the most famous bird in the las two decades as far as I’m concerned. She is the matriarch of Morro Rock. She was a young female when she arrived at Morro Rock in the late summer of 2000, a sub-adult still carrying some juvenile plumage. That summer we had lost a banded female named “Millie.” No one knew what happened to “Millie.” There was no carcass; she was just gone. Her mate at the time was a banded tiercel named “Rudy” because of the “RU” on one of his banded legs. “Rudy” had been single for some time when the young female arrived. He tolerated her perching on his rock and as the weeks passed by he showed some interest by flying around her. Nothing spectacular.
As October turned to November and the days got shorter, she was now in adult plumage, distinct white patch on the side of her head to contrast the black mustache and yellow cere. She is a powerful and swift female, large, but not overly large. Somehow they know after the winter Solstice about Christmastime, there is something in the air that says courtship.
The male starts flying faster and closer to her as she perches to watch this display of speed, power and agility which is all meant for this young maiden. Within a couple of days he approacher her overhead, the young female went into a submissive squat, her chin on the rock and her tail high. They continued this several times a day for the next three months. That year, her maiden year, she had one chick in a nest site called the “mailslot.” Since that first year and the ten years after, she has given us 25 young falcons from three different males. She is about thirteen now and just as beautiful as the day she arrived that late summer day.
Happy trails, Bob
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Posted in chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock
Tagged breeding, chicks, courtship, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock, peregrines
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High tailing it…
Posted in chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock
Tagged breeding, chicks, courtship, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock, peregrines
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A fisherman of another kind…
Photo by Cleve Nash
This is the fourth in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.”
The bird I am speaking of is our resident osprey, a magnificent and colorful large bird of prey. He does not make his home on the rock but he visits there frequently. Most of the time, he is in and around the bay. Perching on sailboats, fishing vessels, lamp posts, etc. Morro Bay, you might say, is his home. In the five or six years I’ve watched him, he has never had a mate or nest site. I don’t know if he is male or female.
The nearest thing to a home was a tree at the west end of the Morro Bay Museum/marina parking lot. There you would find him in the tree and Cleve Nash on the ground with camera in hand. The water was very shallow there even at high tide. This explains why he was able to take the flounder and diving ducks such as the Bufflehead, in the photo below, although he is able to catch prey at three meters in depth.
One day I asked Cleve if he ever got a shot of him entering the water with his talons stretched straight out in front. This he does at the very last second before hitting the water. Cleve responded at that time that he had taken over 900 photos and hadn’t gotten that one yet. When it comes to photography, Cleve is relentless and stubborn with his subjects. One time while shooting White-tailed Kites near San Simeon, Cleve stood for a long period of time with a camouflage drape over himself. A Cooper’s Hawk landed on the lens of his 500 mm camera eighteen inches from his face. This is dedication!
The osprey’s favorite tree fell down last year. Now he and a great egret fuss over a tree nearby. I tried to get some people interested in putting up a tall pole with a tire on top to attract a mate, but I’m not a politician and nothing came of it. He’s still here and roams the bay and if you walk the waterfront to look at the bay or sunset and see scales falling from the sky. It’s just the osprey on the lamp post above your head enjoying his evening repast.
Happy trails, Bob
P.S. The fish is a Starry Flounder.
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Above the rest…
Photo by Cleve Nash
This is the third in a series of tales about the “famous and not-so-famous birds of Morro Rock.
Before I get into the story of our third famous bird, I would like to give our readers an update on the injured falcon chick found June 26, 2012. The young bird is doing well. She has been moved to a larger 30 foot flight cage where she is being conditioned to fly. With full time care by Jeri Roberts, she will be released in the next week or so. I hope to have a video of this.
Every few years, we have a clutch of young falcons with one bird in it that shines head and heels above the others. This bird was hatched on the north side of the rock in a cast of three falcons. He was a small male, distinctively colored with a pale bleached blond hairdo. Some one called him the “Surfer” and the name stuck. He was very gregarious and much of a loner. He didn’t seem to indulge in nestling games. You might say he didn’t play well with others. He was farther ahead of the others in every respect, very agile and coordinated. As they got older and ready to fledge, the other two would flap to strengthen their muscles, but the “Surfer” instead flew straight off the ledge and across the bay to the big power plant and landed on the roof. We were all astonished and amazed. They don’t do this. They fly 50 feet and crash in a bush. For the next couple of days, they might go 200 yards and get stuck on a steep slope for two hours. But not the “Surfer.” On his third day of flying, he tried to grab a swallow over the north parking lot. The other two young falcons could only watch and wish.
By fall when it is time for the adults to chase the young off, the “Surfer” was already gone. I missed him. He was special.
Happy trails, Bob
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Posted in chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock
Tagged accident or injury, chicks, falcon, juvenile, Morro Rock, peregrines, survival
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Welcome “Spec” to Morro Rock!
On one of my previous postings, dated July 5th, titled “Pure speculation” I had a good idea that the black turkey vultures might be nesting in an old eyrie they had used a few years back. Earlier that month I thought I saw vultures copulating near the nest site.
Well, yesterday all my speculations came to fruition. “Welcome Spec to Morro Rock.” One big beautiful ugly baby vulture! Most people thought I was full of you-know-what, but there he was at 12:12PM standing on the rock that hides the nest site. A lot of white on the chest and a downy head. I hurried to get a shot with my Canon SX35. I fumbled and stumbled, then buck fever set in, but I got one at 200 yards. The image was fair so I got on the horn to Cleve Nash, our resident long range specialist. I begged and pleaded with him to meet the next day with all of his large artillery, close to 5000mm fully armed. Well, for the first three hours, nothing. And to think I pulled him away on the first bright sunny day that we’ve had in a week. A photo of a vulture! No dignity at all. Cleve was a great sport all the time I was apologizing and groveling about the vulture not showing up. We watched several pairs of adult vultures circle the nest site. We would get excited on thinking one would land to feed the young, but nothing came of it. After they left, the chick came out and Cleve got the shot, in fact he got many shots of him hopping to another rock and flapping his wings. Cleve was not entirely happy because of the lighting and the wind. So tired, hungry and happy, we left the rock and the young vulture in the warm sun and cool ocean breeze.
Happy trails, Bob.
P.S. This was written yesterday. “Spec” fledged today.